


Mutation Inquiries

by m00nie



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: speculative biology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-30 11:44:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21427687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m00nie/pseuds/m00nie
Summary: Collection of drabbles based around the uniqueness of mutant biology. Not in order.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. ears

**Author's Note:**

> Highly inspired by Werepirechick’s Anatomy Sure is Strange fics on AO3! And April’s Diary by Connie Nervegas on ff! I read so much about biology I really wanted something chill to explore it with!

April had to admit, after somehow adopting four turtles and befriending a rat, all of who were talking and walking like anybody else, her life got a little bit weird. Just a little bit. Not to mention the seven-foot caveman <strike>who she may or may not be dating, mind you</strike> who seemed to break her most valuable of merchandise exclusively. Yeah, her life was kind of a freakshow, but at least they had each other. She wasn’t expecting this though. 

“Leo, why the hell are you cutting into Mikey’s head?!” 

“Don said you okay’d minor operations,” what annoyed her most was he said it so plainly. Like, yes, I’m opening my brother’s head. What about it? We do this all the time!

“I’m soaking wet, holding bags upon bags of groceries, and I come in here to see my kitchen table covered in newspapers and Mikey’s bloody head. Sorry if I’m a bit upset.”

“Do you need help? I can just re-sterilize my hands afterward. Mikey won’t feel anything for a while, Raph got him drunk beforehand.”

Slurring, Mikey affirmed this, saying, “yeeeaaahhh I am! Hey April. Leo’s getting the pus outta me!”

Finally, April put down the groceries she was holding, said, “no,” as she pinched the bridge of her nose, then replied in the evenest tone she could manage, “all I need is an explanation, a promise you’ll thoroughly clean the table, and clean up after Mikey if he throws up."

“Yes ma’am,” the teens replied, one more dopily than the other.

“Well,” she pulled up a seat, “I’m waiting.”

“Usually we don’t get sick from living in the sewers, because we do a lot of upkeep. Not only with cleaning but with exercise, dietary supplements, and the heat lamps that Don made,” Leo paused, removing a piece of what looked like hard cheese from Mike’s head, “but stress really affects us. With all these foot attacks, I’m surprised one of us didn’t get sick sooner. I guess the water we were swimming in started irritating Mikey’s ears, and now he has an abscess. Our bodies can’t get rid of it by themselves, so we have to cut open our ears and get it ourselves. Otherwise, it’ll press up against our skull and affect our hearing. Or that’s at least what I read. Donnie’s too squeamish to do much medically, so I’m in charge.” 

“So let me get this straight—you’re picking out pus from Mikey’s ear on my table? I didn’t even know you guys had ears!”

Her annoyance flew over Michelangelo’s head completely though, and he replied before Leo could lighten up the situation, “pretty much. And we don't really have ears. Leo makes me be his sous chef but like. For medical stuff. ‘Cuz Don gets nauseous and Raph calls you a wimp if you complain about being in pain. But basically, he told me our ears are like… holes in our skull and whatever and our eardrum is just on top of it with the rest of our skin. Which makes us have shitty hearing. Splinter always puts the TV too low to actually make out what they’re saying on it.”

“Stand up, I need to flush out your ear over the sink,” was all Leo had to say over Mike’s drunk explanation and April’s disgust. 

So she left to get the rest of the groceries and explain where operations should take place—in the bathroom. She didn’t want to even think about how she had to make that an official rule.


	2. winter

As Donnie looked over the rooftop to see the winter wonderland of NYC, he couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like yesterday they would huddle together and sleep away the months, at least until Splinter had found a stable enough food source and enough parts to keep the lair properly heated, instead of relying on hot water bottles and heated blankets. 

\-------

Don sat on the couch with his father, completely alone. It was rare that he ever got 1:1 time with dad, since he was always so busy making sure everything was okay. But Mikey and Leo fell asleep a few days ago, and Raph was hiding somewhere in the lair to sleep, instead of the nest. Dad was only taking a short break to sit with him before he would go looking for Raph again.

“Do you sleeps too?” Don asked, nuzzling into his father’s warm fur.

“Not as much as you do, my son,” he smiled, “My body is ready for the winter, unlike you and your brothers.”

“Do you get lonely?” Don _ felt _ tired, but didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to stay up with dad. 

“Yes, a bit. But I keep myself busy with training, and getting home ready for when you all wake up.” 

“Do humans sleeps in winter too?” he felt betrayed as his body finished the sentence with a yawn, and shifted closer to his father. He was so _ soft. _ Why was he so soft?

“I do not think so, Donatello,” Splinter chucked, “some other creatures sleep more than others. What you and your brothers do is _ hibernate. _ You cannot handle the cold, so your body stops until it is warm again. Humans and rats do not hibernate.”

“Who hibernate?”

“Ones like bears, or reptiles and frogs. The bees do too.”

“Wow,” was all his sleepy mind could come up with, “we should meet bees…”

\-----

There wasn’t any more to the memory, because his instincts had finally won over. 

Donatello couldn’t help but smile, and be thankful.


	3. changes

Last time he checked, which was maybe a week ago, his eyes were _ blue. _ A beautiful baby blue, so very useful in getting others to obey his puppy eyes. Well, it stopped working for his brothers (mostly) and Splinter (definitely), but! It worked on April. Occasionally. If she was feeling sappy enough, or if Mikey was being annoying enough. 

Looking into the mirror now though, his eyes were NOT their usual adorable blue color. They were red. 

First, he thought it was the lighting— which was currently little to none. It was 1 pm, which is when they all slept, due to being nocturnal. He couldn’t just turn on all the lights and wake up everyone. Sure, Mikey knew he was a dick. But he wasn’t THAT big of a dick. But despite turning on the bathroom light while keeping his third eyelid back— which hurt by the way. Their eyes were WAY too damn sensitive. There they were. Bright. RED. Eyes. So, obviously, he screamed. Which woke everyone up. Did he care? No. His eyes were fucking RED! And that’s how he ended up on the couch, his father inspecting him and his brother’s eyes.

“Hm,” Splinter released Donatello’s face, “your eyes are still grey, and Raphael’s are still yellow. Someone wake Leonardo up so I can check his.”

Leonardo, had in fact, fallen asleep while his father examined his brothers’ eyes, completely uncaring for Mikey’s anxious pacing and rambling. Don counted that Mike had been talking to no one in particular for an entire five minutes without pausing for air, which was semi-impressive not given the circumstances. 

“Maybe Mikey’s just dying,” Raph said, also not caring for his brother’s plight. 

“Oh God, am I? I don’t wanna die!”

“Raphael! Do not panic your brother any more than he already is!”

“Sorry Sensei.”

Splinter relaxed his glare and went back to checking Leonardo’s eyes. They too were unaffected, “Michelangelo, have you noticed anything else happening?” 

“Well,” he finally sat, anxiously fiddling, “my shell hurts, and it started peeling, but Leo said it was just growing pains so I’ve been ignoring it.” 

“Perhaps this is just another part of you growing, then? Your eyes do not seem infected or damaged.”

“So I’m not dying?”

“No, and whatever is happening can wait until tonight. Everyone go back to sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon the boys to be box turtles, because of how big and round their carapaces are, and by the fact they looked more like land turtles (look at the feet) in the "how they were made" flashback. So yes, it is just puberty :)... might have more fun with this topic later!

**Author's Note:**

> Isn’t reptilian biology fascinating? I like to say it is! Anyway, sorry if Leo came off sounding a bit like Don. I feel like both of them can infodump at a moment’s notice. I also liked Don proclaiming he wasn’t a doctor when Leo got sick at the battle nexus, and ran with it. More to come whenever I want to rant about biology.


End file.
